July 8

Good Monday to you! I hope you had a great weekend and were able to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. 


Several months ago, I decided to watch A.D., the story of the early church. I didn’t make it through the first episode, though, because they had changed and modified the Bible and it was really irritating to me. Who needs to “improve” on the Bible? But after visiting the Holy Land, I decided to try again to check out the backgrounds. And this time I was really able to appreciate the settings, the costumes, the way Jerusalem and Samaria and Joppa May have looked. It was amazing how much I could gain from the picture of what it all. (I still don’t like it that they changed facts.) 


Caiaphas (the Jewish High Priest) is a major figure in AD and the views of what his palace may have looked like are pretty good. Seeing how he was dressed and what he may have been facing, gives a better picture. We always want to really hate the Pharisees and the Saducees because of what the did to Jesus, but in truth, although they were misguided and lost their tempers, they believed they were defending their faith. As Jesus said “...they know not what they do.”


Little remains of Caiaphas’ palace today, but the dungeons (underground caves) beneath it are amazing in how well they have weathered time; so much so they reveal a grisly story. Roughly hewn out of bedrock and separated by arches and pillars, there are holes chiseled through the arched tops so the prisoners’ hands could be manacled above their heads while being beaten. Jesus was probably held here while they were trying to decide what to do with him. 


Inside the house of Caiaphas, Jesus stood trial before the Sanhedrin and the chief priests who “were looking for false evidence against Him so that they could put Him to death” (Matthew 26:59).  It was here they spewed jealous rage on Jesus, spitting in his face, striking their fists at him, slapping him, and condemning him to death because he confessed to be the son of the living God.  They found no evidence against Jesus that warranted his execution, “though many false witnesses came forward” (26:60).


In some way, I feel sorry for those men. They believed because of who they were, their position, gave them a right standing with God. Their hope was based in themselves and that is empty hope. Our hope in Jesus is “an anchor for the soul, firm and secure..”. Hebrews 6:19


Lord Jesus thank you for our hope that founds ya as an anchor. Our souls are desperate for hope and we are so blessed to have ours in the Solid Rock. We love you and worship you. We want to be near to you and more than that, we want to be your disciples. Teach us Lord, train us and mould us to be more like you. We want to know you so well that we do t even have to consider what you’d do—it will be second nature to us. Help us to care for others as you did, to have the compassion and love for the lost and dying all around us. We love you and worship you. Amen and amen. 


Love you dear one, 

Pam


Pictures of the palace and the caves are on Facebook. 

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